Process of producing polished spoons, forks, and other metal articles.



A. WILZIN. PROCESS OF PRODUCING POLISHED SPOONS, FORKS, AND OTHER METALARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11, 1913- 1,133,775. Patented Mar.30,1915.

WITNESSES: I/Vl/E/VTOR jM ARIA/(IB- WIL Z //V WM W BY A TmRA/EY ARTHURWILZ IN OF ST.-OUE1\T, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING POLISHED SPOONS, FORKS, AND OTHER METAL ARTICLES.

Application filed October 11, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR VViLzIN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of St.-Ouen, in the Department of the Seine, France, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of ProducingPolished Spoons; Forks, and other Metal Articles, of which the followingis a specification.

In the manufacture of flatware, such as spoons and forks, (and moreparticularly spoons and forks made of silver-plated German silver), oneof the most expensive operations, so far as labor is concerned, is thepolishing process to which the article has to be submitted, both aftersuch article has been shaped by stamping, and again after it has beenplated. The first polishing(before the article has been plated) isusually effected by means of disks or bobs coated with emery orpolishing rouge; this is a somewhat diflicult operation calling for theexercise of great care by the workman in order to avoid damaging thelines of the design, and it is moreover expensive, as even a cleverworkman 'cannot turn out more than a certain limited quantity of work inagiven time without sacrificing its quality. The second polishing, thatis, the polishing of the article after it has been silver-plated, is ayet more diflicult operation, for not only must a brilliant sheen beobtained, but the perfect adhesion of the silver coating must beassured, while the operation must be conducted in such a manner that theleast possible quantity of silver shall be removed by the brush or thefelt which clothes the rotating polishing disks.

The object of my present invention is to substitute, for the polishingoperations hitherto employed, a method which shall enable the polishingto be effected with greater rapidity and certainty than has heretoforebeen possible, which shall avoid liability of spoiling the sharpness ofthe design, which shall not call for the exercise of special skill onthe part of the workman, and which shall therefore possess the advantageof being economical.

In carrying out my present invention, the polishing is elfected, not byfriction as here; tofore, but by heavy pressure applied as hereinafterdescribed.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'Mar. 30, 1915.

Serial N 0. 7941601.

Taking a spoon as an example, the invention may be performed in practiceas hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a face view of the article at an early stage of theprocess; Fig. 1 is a face View of the article at a later stage of theprocess; Fig, 2 is a cross section of the bowl portion at the same stageas in Fig. l; and Figs.- 3, 4:, and 5- are similar cross sections atprogressively succeeding stages of the process, Fig. 5 illustrating thesame stage as Fig. 1. g

The sequence of operations or steps shown is as follows: First: Theblank from which the spoon or other article is to be made is (as usual)brought to the required general shape by a stamping operation whichproduces a flash or bur around the edge of the blank as indicated at bin Fig. 1, and also, in Fig. 2, which shows a cross section of the bowlportion a. Second: The article is then trimmed olf all around so as toremove the flash or bur b, and thus produce an article having at thebowl portion a the cross sectional form shown in Fig. 3. Third: Thearticle is then subjected, in a powerful press of any well-known orapproved construction, to the action of highly burnished diescorresponding in form and design to the finished article, and as aresult a flash or bur b (Fig. 4} is again produced around the edge ofthe now burnished article, the bowl portion then having the crosssectional shape indicated at a.-- Fourth: This bur or flash 7) is thentrimmed 011? in cutting dies which at the same time remove a smallportion 0 of metal, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the resulting article(Figs. 1- and 5) has a width (Z slightly less than the width d of thearti cle shown in Fig. 3, the length of the article being of coursediminished by this trimming operation to a similar extent, as willbe-seen by comparing Fig. 1 with Fig. 1. Fifth: This article, shown inFigs. 1 and 5, of reduced width and length, is then subjected to theplating operation, which may be performed in the usual manner. Sixth:The article, after plating, is again subjected in a powerful press ofany suitable construction, to the action of highly burnished diescorresponding in form and design to the finished article, by whichoperation the desired polish is given to the surface while at the sametime the perfect adhesion and consolidation of the plating is insured.As a result of the application of this pressure the metal is naturallycaused to spread all around its contour in a surface direction but, asthe superficial area of the trimmed piece is slightly less than thatofthe final product to which the engraved design borne by the diescorresponds, this spreading can take place freely within the engravedspace of the dies, either Without actually reaching the edge of theengraving, or just filling it, so that in any case no flash is formed.It will be understood that the width of the portion 0 which is cut offat the same time as the bur b" must be so determinedthat the amount ofmetal removed shall be suificient to provide space for the flow of themetal which fills the mold under the ressure of the final burnishingoperation. this final burnishing squeeze no bur or flash is formed,which is very important for the reason that if any were then formed, itcould not be relmoved withoutv exposing the German-silver ase.

In many cases one. stamping and one trimming operation, namely the thirdand fourth, will sufiice, omitting the first and second.

The burnishing dies used in the third step described above may be, andpreferably are,

the same as those employed for the sixth step. The pressure, both duringthe initial burnishing step .and during the final burnishing', should besulficient to cause the polish of the die surfaces to be imparted to theunplanted and to the plated article respectively.

Itwill be understood that the method described above is not limited tothe polishing of spoons and forks, but may be employed equally well inthe case of all other plated metal articles produced by stamping.

I claim as my invention:

1. The process of producing a finished and polished spoon, fork, orother plated article, which consists in (a) compressing the unplatedarticle between highly burnished dies under a pressure suificient tocause the polish of the die surfaces to be imparted to the article; (b)trimming ofi the flash or bur formed by this compression, and at thesame time trimming off suflicient additional metal to prevent the platedmetal, when spread out under'the" subsequent final burnishing pressurefrom forming a flash; (c) plating the article thus diminished in surfaceandvvolum e; (d) compressing the plated article between highly burnisheddies under a pressure sufiicient to cause'the polish of the die surfacesto be imparted to the plated surface.

2. The process of producing a finished and polished spoon, fork, orother plated metal article, which consists in first subjecting theunplated article to a burnishing pressure, then trimming off the edge ofthe article, thereupon plating the article, and finally subjecting theplated article to a burnishing pressure.

3. The process of making forks, spoons, and other plated metal articles,which consists in first subjecting the unplated article to a burnishingpressure, then plating the article, and finally subjecting the platedarticle to a burnishing pressure.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

ARTHUR WILZIN.

Vitnesses: I

Hanson C. Coxn, JACK H. BAKER.

